In New Game of Thrones App, You Wait or You Pay

For each noble house in the Seven Kingdoms, the choices that leaders make often lead to tragedy and ruin. In Game of Thrones: Ascent, you play as an up-and-coming noble who, through endless decision-making and item crafting, can move a bit closer to the Iron Throne. However, failure and death aren’t a real option in Ascent; instead, it’s all about waiting and paying.

Game of Thrones: Ascent originally launched on Facebook, and it’s a free to play game, so you can expect two things right off the bat. First, this casual game is so basic that you can’t possibly lose — the only consequence for making poor decisions is that you’ll waste some time. Second, there’s a lot of waiting involved, and even the most basic actions can take hours to complete.

Ascent constantly asks you to bribe the Keeper of Coin to speed up every action. As you play through the game’s book-like narrative structure, you’ll bring together advisers and hired swords to keep the King’s justice, plot against other noble houses, or witness events from the main plot-lines of A Song of Ice and Fire. Usually this boils down to selecting a few dialogue choices and then a tactic that such as bartering or sabotage.

Ascent’s writing is ambitious, often giving you a fresh perspective on notable events, but it’s also not nearly as exciting as George R. R. Martin’s original text. You often can’t alter the course of the story, although you can define some of your house’s minor traits.